By Cori Agnoni, Secondary Education and English Major / ACH Clear Pathways and Community Writing Center Intern
It’s officially official… my internship ended! It’s such a bittersweet feeling. I find myself wishing I had more time with the students and wanting to continue this until in-person tutoring is allowed, but I’m ready for the next chapter.
During my time at Duquesne, I’ve taken a multitude of English classes and Education classes. The double major demands that I take a number of courses and meet specific requirements. Each professor I’ve taken helped instill the necessary foundation that I will take with me into the profession. But I’ve always felt something was missing from my experience. My student observations in classrooms of local Pittsburgh schools are valuable and I am grateful for the experience, but I never got a chance to combine English and Education for myself.
This internship is exactly what I was looking for, I just didn’t know it at the time. I’ve mentioned in previous blogs that this experience found me after a class was cancelled, but it wasn’t until the last week of the internship that I realized how valuable this is. It tied all the loose ends for me during my last semester of classes. Each week, I had the opportunity to combine my knowledge from the School of Education and apply it to English-based activities. For example, I tried to implement a “grabber” each week, by telling a joke or talking about the weekend. When this was over, the students knew it was time to focus on the worksheets for the next 30 minutes.
I set one goal for myself this semester, and that was to gain confidence. I find it difficult to teach more than 1 student at a time. This internship helped me achieve my goal because of the routine practice each Wednesday. I feel more confident entering my student teaching experience that begins in mid-January. Whether it be in-person or via Zoom, I’ll be prepared!
Building Bridges 